More and more publications are reporting on the intimate relationship developing between art and fashion, but few of them tell us about its potential as intelligently and elegantly as the Berlin-based sleek magazine.
sleek owes its unique aesthetic to Editor-in-Chief Annika von Taube. Von Taube curates each issue around themes in juxtaposition, placing emerging and established works in enlightening contexts. For Berlin Fashion Week, she is heading sleek daily, covering the week's catwalk shows, events, personages and impressions with the same keenly critical but witty voice that elevates the magazine to fetish-worthy status among stylish and thoughtful readers. Here, we discuss Berlin fashion and Fashion Week's failings, possibilities and likely future with von Taube.
Ana Finel Honigman: What is the editorial voice of sleek daily?
Annika Von Taube: We started it because we felt that Berlin Fashion Week deserved our support, that Berlin might become a fashion city of international weight in the future, and that there were things worth sharing with people but there was no medium in Berlin doing that. We started with no overriding concept. We just wanted to cover what we like. But then we realized that there were not that many things which we like.
AFH: I’d say that you’re better at covering what you don’t like. There isn’t enough criticism in the fashion press. There is snark and suck-ups. But little actual criticism. sleek daily does a nice mix of complimentary and challenging coverage, with a bit of bite too.
AvT: We do try and be nice.
AFH: “Nice” isn’t very helpful. But supportive is good.
AvT: And we write honestly. There was no way that we could write positively about the Joop! show [ed. note: A/W ‘10]. There was just no way.
AFH: That’s good. It’s just being part of a community. So, what is the real problem here?
AvT: There are some promising developments in German fashion. But what is happening in the emerging and avant-garde environment doesn’t get a voice in the media. Look at Vogue Germany. It is the world’s most boring edition of Vogue because it only follows what has been established by others instead of taking on an individual perspective.
AFH: Come on. There are Vogues all over the world. This can’t be the worst. The world’s a big place filled with crap.
AvT: Sure. But other places at least have courage. Germans are not daring. They do not decide that they like something and they want to tell others about the thing that they like. Germans always wait for other people to confirm what they like before they admit that they like it.
AFH: That can’t be a strictly German trait. It’s not like that in art.
AvT: Fashion is more commercial. So, people always have to be wary of what they do and the choices that they make. That is one concern. But art is more international. You communicate with art and about art. The style of communication is totally different.
AFH: There are German collectors with balls, right?
AvT: Who? The people with balls here are not the collectors but the artists themselves. The collectors, critics and theorists are all dead. The artists and some dealers have balls. But most collectors, like the fashion world, only collect what has a value that is confirmed by several sources, so that they are sure they did the right thing.
AFH: Is this a lack of taste or just frugal caution?
AvT: It is caution. Germans do have taste but they lack faith in their own vision. They never go for the unknown. Every other country has a fashion council of people with the courage to say “I like that. I want this to be exposed and discussed.” There is nothing like that here. There are all these free slots (at the tent, the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week main venue) for people to show but no one knows whom to invite to show. If you ask people working in fashion, they could name at least a handful of people who deserve to show but there is no real platform for supporting these people. Look at Kaviar Gauche and C. neeon. We are fortunate that they show in Berlin again because it was not in Berlin that they earned their first international recognition, but in London.
AFH: I just figured that both labels have such consistent and familiar signature styles that they didn’t need to show here each season. They are part of the cultural fabric.
AvT: They are big enough that they don’t need Berlin anymore. But look at Westwood, you recognize her shows each season.
AFH: Sure but there are at least themes. With C.neeon, who I like a lot, they just have the same big prints. Do you really need “birds of paradise” for Spring and then “paradise of birds” for Fall?
AvT: Sure, but Kaviar Gauche has bridal wear one season and then nudity next season. And even if they showed the very same thing each season, the problem is not that of a recognizable style, but a lack of feedback and support. Do you think Michael Sontag will continue to show here any longer than he needs to? No. He doesn’t get the feedback here. He doesn’t get the push that would raise him into the world.
AFH: What do you think of these purely theatrical events like Patrick Mohr? That’s not fashion. It’s just bad performance art. But isn’t there something unique and fun in that?
AvT: It is performance art. It is bad. And as much as I hate his stuff and I don’t think that it is fashion, it is important for Berlin to produce shows like that. It is a niche and it is one of our unique selling points. There are no established structures here. We have so much freedom here and we should try and help break-up the boredom from all the serious shows in Milan, Paris and New York. Berlin is ever-changing. It is a cliché to say that but it is true. People love Patrick Mohr because he breaks the routine, because he delivers something unexpected (if expectedly so).
AFH: Why not make good performance art the selling point? There is very little else besides Patrick Mohr that really sticks after the week is over. It is usually pretty nice but nice is not enough.
AvT: There should be an art fashion show each day in the tent. Have you seen John Bock’s catwalk shows? He knows how to work with the space, the catwalk, the lighting, the choreography—everything. These shows are about humorously imitating and mocking the fashion industry but in a way they are more professional and impressive than most “real” shows. And they even include animals.
AFH: I am a fan of animals’ work. I definitely think that they know what they are doing.
AvT: True. And since there is not enough fashion here, we need other things. Like animals. But seriously, there is stuff. IMG needs to set up a fashion council. They need to involve people like Andreas Murkudis, who promotes Lutz, a Berlin label which deserves real attention.
AFH: We keep talking about Berlin labels. But isn’t Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week actually German Fashion Week. What about the influence of Frankfurt and Munich on what happens here?
AvT: There is a BMW Fashion Week in Munich now too.
AFH: Right, so it is just a turf war.
AvT: Berlin is the right place for these people to breathe and evolve. Munich has its set and established style.
AFH: Yet, it mostly seems to be fed and defined by the same global luxury brands that all wealthy people in rich cities buy. How is a Gucci bag part of Munich’s style DNA? Besides Jil Sander, what else is there to define German style in these cities?
AvT: There are local designers like Susanne Wiebe designing “high end” fashion which is technically sound but attracting more of a 40+ suburban hausfrau crowd than the people who wear, communicate and shape the names of tomorrow’s designers. Wiebe has shown in Berlin but she would never really sell here. That is a general problem though, people do not buy fashion here.
AFH: People just do not buy here. But there is clearly a real luxury market in other German cities. I’ve seen it. The Armani store in Frankfurt was practically torn apart. There was nothing but crumbs on Maximilianstraße in München.
AvT: Commercially successful fashion doesn’t start with buying but showing. What needs to be understood is that we have to promote the strong stuff now because if we pour money into a label, it can become a global brand that will create money and jobs and really benefit Germany. People are so money oriented but in an absolutely short-sighted way. In Berlin people don’t shop because income is generally very low here, but the crisis didn’t do anything to the German retail market. However, too much of the money people spent on fashion went to those same luxury brands from elsewhere that everyone buys.
AFH: Is the lack of support a regional prejudice against Berlin? Is it an assumption that Berlin is too immature or too grungy to produce anything worthy of real investment?
AvT: No, I think it is more just a lack of guts, flexibility and trust in what we see. I don’t want to exclude other German designers but what happens in Germany happens here.
[Images: Annika von Taube, photographed in the sleek offices, by Maxime Ballesteros]
